Car-seal.



G. B. KYLER.

CAR SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1. ms.

1,@%5, 255, v Patented May 8,1917.

CHARLES B. KYLEB, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

CAR-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May& 191?.

Application filed. May 1, 1916. Serial No. 94,684.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Crrnnnns B. KYLnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg and State of Indiana, have ini 'ented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seals; and l do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to .improvements in seals which are ordinarily used for the purpose of locking freight car doors or similar structures against unwarranted opening thereof.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a device of this character which. will be simple in. construction, reliable, durable and efiicient in use, very economical in cost, and well adapted to the purpose for which it is designed.

An additional object is to provide a device of this character which can be readily formed from a single piece of metal such as tin merely by stamping the same into the proper shape and bending it as will be more particularly described.

Witl the foregoing objects in view, the invention resides in the novel features of construction, such as will hereinafter be more particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved seal showing the free end of the stem about to be inserted in the socket portion;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the blank from which the seal is formed;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the appearance of the socket before the last bend is made for closing one end thereof;

Fig. 1 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section taken substantially onthe plane of the line 4% of Fig. 3; and,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical transverse section taken substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 8.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates broadly my improved seal formed from a single strip of preferably resilient metal such as tin or the like which has one end reduced to form a tongue 2, the other end forming a stem or stamped a longitudinally extending opening l. Extending rom the opposite sides of the strip is a pair of wings 5 which are preferably spaced a slight distance from one end of said strip at the unction of the tongue 2 therewith for a purpose which will later appear. The wings 5 are somewhat more than one-half the Width of the strip and have flanges 6 formed on their longitudinal edges. As shown in Fig. 2, the blank from which the seal is formed with the parts heretofore described, may be stamped at one operation, thus forming an article of very simple construction which can be quickly folded into the required shape.

In forming the seal from the blank described above, the tongue is bent upon the strip along the dotted line 7, in other words, at the junction of said tongue with said strip. After the tongue 2 has been disposed in engagement with the strip, the free end portion of the tongue is bent on the dotted line 8 over the other portion of the tongue to form a hook 9. It will be noted that the end which is last bent to form the hook 9 is substantially one-third the length of the tongue 2; the wings 5 are next folded upon the strip along the dotted lines 10. The flanges 6 are formed by bending the outer portions of the longitudinal edges of the wings 5 along the dotted line 11 and after these Wings are disposed over the strip and the hook 9, the flanges are engaged with each other as shown in Fig. 5 and interlocked. This simple construction forms a socket 12 in which the hook 9 is disposed, and while simply formed, would be very hard to open.

The appearance of the seal after the bends have been made is illustrated in Fig. 3, both ends of the socket 12 being open. It is desirable, however, to close one end of the same, and this is accomplished by pressing the outer ends of the wings and flanges down into contact with the tongue and then bend ing the end of the strip and the adjacent end of the tongue along the dotted line 13 over the side edges of the wings 5 and the flanges 6 and into engagement therewith as shown in Fig. 1. This not only closes the end of the socket but also materially strengthens the same and renders its opening more difficult. This turning over of the end of the strip is permitted by extending the wings outwardly therefrom at points spaced from the point of connection of the tongue therewith as hereinbefore mentioned. The end of this bent over portion is in the plane of the upper side of the socket so that it will be comparatively diiiicult to insert an instrument to break open the seal.

After the stem or shackle 3 has been placed through the usual eyes on a box car door, the free end thereof containing the slot 4: is inserted into the socket 12 until it engages the closed end whereupon its removal will be prevented by the engagement of the hook 9 with the slot l and shown in Fig. l. The seal is now positively locked and it is impossible to remove the end of the stem 3 from the socket 12 unless the latter is mutilated. Furthermore, the car door will be held in closed position until the seal is broken.

I claim:

A car seal of the class described formed from a single strip of sheet metal, one end being reduced in width to form a tongue, its other end forming a stem, said stem having a slot in its free end, said tongue being bent inwardly at its unction with said strip and into contact therewith, the free end of said tongue being bent outwardly to provide a hook, a socket surrounding said hook and tongue and adapted to receive the slotted end of said strip, said socket comprising a pair of wings, one extending from each edge of said strip at a point spaced from the point of connection of the tongue therewith, said wings being bent over said strip and tongue, and flanges formed on the longitudinal edges of the said wings, said flanges being interlocki-ngly engaged, said wings and I flanges thereby forming one side of the socket, the other being formed by said strip, the inner end of said socket being open, the outer end being closed by pressing the ends of the wings and flanges into engagement with said tongue and then bending the end of the strip and the adjacent end of the tongue over said downwardly bent ends of the wings and flanges and into engagement therewith, the ends of said bent over portion being substantially in the plane of the upper side of said socket.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

)HARLES l3. KYLER.

lVitnesses Ln ROY Moonn, R. lVArrAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. I 

